15 December, 1999
Inquiries: Mr Rami Peltola +358 9 1734 3615, Mr Kari
Rautio +358 9 1734 2479
Director in charge: Mr Ilkka Hyppönen
Industrial output grew by 2.3 per cent in October
According to Statistics Finland, Finnish industrial output as calculated per working day grew by 2.3 per cent in the year to October. In September, the corresponding figure stood at 5.4 per cent. In the wood and paper industry, output continued its strong growth and went up by good 9 per cent in October. In the chemical industry, output went up by a similar amount. In contrast, output in the electronics industry fell by good 6 per cent. The drop was partly attributable to the industry's exceptionally large volume of output during the comparison period of October 1998.
Capacity utilisation rate in manufacturing was just under 88 per cent in October, which is one-and-a-half percentage points lower than the year before. In the pulp and paper industry, capacity utilisation rate was nearly 95 per cent, in the metal industry just short of 87 per cent and in the chemical industry good 80 per cent.
In the January to October period, industrial output was up by 4.6 per cent compared to last year's corresponding period. Output in the metal industry increased by just under 10 per cent. The fastest grower was the electronics industry, where output went up by good 26 per cent. Output in the chemical industry went up by two per cent. In the wood and paper industry, output turned to a two per cent growth. In other manufacturing, output fell by just short of one per cent.
In the year to October, Finnish industrial output grew by good two per cent (seasonally adjusted). According to the OECD's seasonally adjusted series, output in the United States was up by 3.3 per cent and in Japan by 1.6 per cent compared to the previous year's October. In Germany, industrial output went up by just under 2 per cent and in the UK by just under 1.5 per cent.
Source: Volume Index of Industrial Output 1999, October. Statistics Finland